Today's news stories certainly must be causing angst among the nation's Christianists. In addition to the New York Times story on New York State's decision to recognize same sex marriages that are valid in other states and countries, MSNBC is reporting on the surging growth in the number of multi-racial Americans. Since the leading Christianist organizations not only despise gays but also non-whites (brown skinned citizens in particular lately: think Hispanic), the increasing numbers of what I'm sure these "Godly Christians" consider "half-breeds" or worse must have them confused as to which is the greater menance to the nation the Christianists true to claim as exclusively theirs: the gays or the half-breeds. Some readers will likely say that I am being too harsh in chiding the Christianists for disliking non-whites, yet it was the predecessors of today's Christianists - especially in the South - who supported bans on inter-racial marriage right up until the Supreme Court's ruling in Loving v. Virginia, often using the Bible to justify their bigotry. First, her are some highlights from MSNBC:
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With interracial marriage illegal in 16 states until 1967 and racist sentiments against it remaining to this day in some places, the number of biracial and multiracial Americans is relatively small . . . . The headline, though, is growth. Up from 4,711,932 the previous year, the tally indicates a 3 percent gain, which is 10 times the 0.3 percent growth of the white population in the same period and three times the overall U.S. population growth of about 1 percent. It’s about the same as the growth rates of the Hispanic and Asian populations. America’s mixed-race population is up 25 percent since it was first calculated in 2000, while the nation’s overall population has grown 7 percent in that time.
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But Americans from multiracial backgrounds and families (some 5 million Americans are married across racial lines and millions more are members of racially blended families) seem universally happy and proud that a biracial man is the front-runner for a major party’s presidential nomination. Over and over again, in e-mail and interviews, regardless of whether they agree with his politics or intend to vote for him, “Gut Check” respondents said they were heartened by Obama’s candidacy.
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As for those of us who represent members of the gay menace, the New York Times story is heartening and hopefully will help more moderate states find a way to recognize gay unions, particularly if the California gay marriage ruling survives the Christianist effort to amend the California constitution as a recent poll suggests might be the case. I believe that as more states give varying degrees of recognition to gay marriages without the end of civilization occurring as predicted by the Christianists, the road will be made easier for additional states to re-think their positions on gay marriage - if for no other reason than to remain competitive in attracting businesses and sharing in expenditures made from the ever increasing gay purchasing power. Here are higlights from the NYT piece:
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ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson has directed all state agencies to begin to revise their policies and regulations to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, like Massachusetts, California and Canada. In a directive issued on May 14, the governor’s legal counsel, David Nocenti, instructed the agencies that gay couples married elsewhere “should be afforded the same recognition as any other legally performed union.” The revisions are most likely to involve as many as 1,300 statutes and regulations in New York governing everything from joint filing of income tax returns to transferring fishing licenses between spouses.
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“Very shortly, there will be hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, and probably thousands and thousands and thousands of gay people who have their marriages recognized by the state,” said Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, a Democrat who represents the Upper West Side and has pushed for legalization of gay unions.
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The directive is the strongest signal yet that Mr. Paterson, who developed strong ties to the gay community as a legislator, plans to push aggressively to legalize same-sex unions as governor. His predecessor, Eliot Spitzer, introduced a bill last year that would have legalized gay marriage, but even as he submitted it, doubted that it would pass. The Democratic-dominated Assembly passed the measure, but the Republican-led Senate has refused to call a vote on it.
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Gay marriage proponents said they expected that ruling, which will take effect in mid-June unless the court grants a stay, will lead some gay couples in New York to marry in California so they can take advantage of the protections under New York law. Of course, many gay New Yorkers might find Canada to be a more convenient option, some gay rights supporters pointed out. Mr. Nocenti also said that marriages performed in Massachusetts should be recognized in New York
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